Verizon Wireless Explains 4G LTE Issues as "Growing Pains"

It's a little ironic for a company which likes to ask "Can you hear me now?" to remain silent at a time when its customers demand some answers. After three 4G LTE data outages in a single month, it's imperative for VZW to step up and say something that will restore customer confidence in its infrastructure, to say something that will convince potential new subscribers the recent issues are an anomaly, and just to say something, period.

Well, Verizon finally stepped out of the shadows on Thursday and issued a statement regarding its 4G LTE network.

"The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network is BY FAR the largest and the most advanced 4G LTE wireless network in the world," Verizon said. "It is available in 190 U.S. markets and covers more than 200 million people, providing the fastest 4G network in the U.S.

Verizon went on to explain that at certain times, it moved 4G LTE customers onto 3G networks to ensure everyone would still have a data connection. Even with the three outages, Verizon estimates 4G LTE uptime at 99 percent for the year.

As for why the outages occurred in the first place, VZW said "each incident has been different from a technical standpoint," and each one has been corrected without a second recurrence. To prevent other issues from creeping up, VZW said it's taking a number a steps, including geographic segmentation, which enables the company to isolate, contain, and rectify network performance issues, and maintain service to the majority of customers when an issue does develop.

"We will not rest until our 4G LTE network performs at the very highest levels that our customers have come to expect from us," Verizon promised.

Comment

You want the truth? It was predicted a while back that as companies cut more and more technical staff to lower costs and increase profits, outages would become more and more common across the board for everyone and everything involving technology.

In the broadest sense....this is a sign of approaching infrastructure collapse. Read Foundation by Isaac Asimov. It's all in there....